Looper-thread controller



3 Sheets-:Sheet 1 Filed Oct. '7, 1922 Whoa Snowy Jgfl, 27. 1925.

L. ONDERDONK LOOPER THREAD CONTROLLER 3 Sheets: $heet 2 Filed 001:. 7,1922 ONDERDONK LOOPER THREAD CONTROLLER n Filed Oct. 7, 1922 sSheets-SheL s IIIIII u I M; J6 w G mmmll Patented Jan. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,524,203 PATENT OFFICE.

LANSING ONDERDONK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG-NOR TO UNION SPECIALMACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

LOOPER-THREAD CONTROLLER.

Application filed October 7, 1922.

To' all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LANSING ONonRDoNK, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, in the county of New York, State of Newlork,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looper- ThreadControllers, of which the following is a description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing and to the figures of reference markedthereon.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in a looper threadcontrolling mechanism, and more particularly to a thread controllingmechanism for a thread carrying looper which is mounted to move back andforth in a single horizontal plane.

An object of the invention is to provide a thread controller, whereinthe looper thread is taken up on the backward movement of the looper,and wherein the looper thread is given up to the looper as it movesforward into the needle thread loop.

A further object of the invention is to provide a thread controllingmechanism of the above type, wherein the thread is taken up by means ofa movable arm cooperating with spaced thread guides which are mounted sothat they may be adjusted for varying the amount of thread taken up.

A further object of the invention is to provide a thread controllingmechanism of the above type, wherein the arm is oscillated by means ofan eccentric which is capable of being adjusted on the shaft whichcarries the same so as to vary the time when the maximum pull of the armon the thread occurs.

These and other objects will in part be obvious and will in part behereinafter more fully disclosed.

In the drawings which show by way of illustration one embodiment of theinvention Figure 1 is a view partly in section and partly in plan,showing a machine embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the standard of the machine and showing in sideelevation the looper thread controlling mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the oscillating arm and themechanism for oscillating the same;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the oscillating yoke carryingthe armwhich engages the thread;

Serial No. 593,022.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the thread guides between which the armoscillates and the supporting bracket for said thread guides;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a supporting bracket for the oscillatingyoke;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view in plan showing the position of the threadarm when the looper is at the forward end of its stroke;

Fig. 8 is a detail showing the position of the thread arm and threadguides when the looper is at the forward end of its stroke.

I have shown the invention as applied to a sewing machine having athread carrying looper which oscillates in a single horizontal plane.The looper is curved and disposed so as to move in a path to which thefeed line is substantially tangential and the looper is moving in adirection opposed {to the feed as it enters the needle thread oop.

The looper thread is controlled by means of an oscillating arm whichvibrates back and forth between two spaced thread guides. The looperthread passes through these guides on its way to the looper. Theoscillating arm engages the thread and draws 011 the thread as thelooper is moving backward so as to take up all the slack in the looperthread, the thread being pulled off from the supply by the looper in itsforward movement. This arm also gives up thread to the looper as itmoves forward to permit the looper to move freely into the thread loopand the feed of the fabric to take place.

Means is provided for shifting the position of the thread guides so asto vary the amount of thread taken up. The oscillating arm is vibratedby a rotating eccentric and this is capable of being shifted on itssupporting shaft so as to vary the time of maximum pull on the thread.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, I have shown my improvedthread controller as applied to a sewing machine having a supporting bed1 and a standard 2, which carries the usual overhanging arm. Locatedbeneath the work support is a thread carrying looper 3 which is pivotedto swing about a vertical axis 4:. Said thread carrying looper ismounted on a looper carrier having an arm to which a link 6 is pivoted,said link being pivoted to the arm at 7. Also, located beneath the worksupport is a vibrating lever 8, and the other end of the link 6 ispivoted at 9 to said lever. The lever is vibrated by means of a link 10connected to a crank mounted on a vertical rotating shaft 11. Thislooper operating mechanism forms no part of the present invention exceptin combination with the thread controlling mechanism, but is shown,described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 576,270,filed July 20, 1922.

The material is fed across the work support by a feed dog 12 which maybe of the usual construction. The looper 3 moves in a curved path aboutthe axis 4t as a center. The line of feed is substantially tangential tothis curved path. The feed moves the fabric in the direction of thearrow, Fig. 1, and therefore the looper is moving in a direction opposedto the feed as it enters the needle thread loop.

The thread from the supply passes through a thread guide 13 formed in anarm 14 and also through a thread guide 15 formed in an arm 16. The arms14 and 16 are preferably formed integral with a bracket 17 having slots18-18 through which screws 1919 pass for securing the bracket to thestandard 2- of the machine. These slots are horizontal and permit thebracket to be shifted horizontally, as viewed in Fig. 2, either to theright or left.

The thread runs from the thread guide 15 underneath a guiding plate 20.Said guiding plate is provided with a forked end which forms a guidingrecess 21 to receive the thread. The work support is provided with agroove for the thread to run in and when the thread leaves the forwardend of the guide plate 20 it passes directly to the heel ot the looper3.

(isci-lla'ting between the thread guides 13 and 15 is athroad arm 21.Said thread arm 21' is mounted in an oscillating yoke 22, see Fig. 4.Said yoke has a proJecting sleeve 23 which receives the arm 21 and a setscrew 24 secures the arm in said sleeve. The arm may be adjusted in andout of the slceveand to a limited extent. The yoke 22 'is provided witha pivot bearing This pivot {bearing lies between the arms 2626 :of thebracket 27 and a pivot pin 28 passing through these arms 26-26 and thepivot 'bearing'25 serves as a support for the yoke. The pivot pin ispreferably secured to the yokoand oscillates therewith. The bracket -27is provided with enlarged openings 2929 which receive screws 8030 andthese enlarged openings permit a slight adjustment of the supporting.bracket for the yoke.

In the standard there is'a vertically arranged-rotating shaft '11. Saidshaft 11 carriesabeveled-gear 31 and engages a beveled gear 32 on themain shaft 33. Mounted on this vertical shaft 11 is a sleeve 3-1 whichcal" ries an eccentric 85. The eccentric 35 lies bctwccn the arms of theyoke 22 and as the occentric rotates the yoke will be oscillated. Theyoke is preferably provided with a plate 9-6 which closes the open endof the yoke and said plate is se ured to the yoke by suitable screwspassing through openings 37-37 and threaded into the opening 38. Alubricating pad 39 is carried by the plate 36 and rests on a shelf 4-0formed integral with the plate 36. The lubricating pad 39 serves tolubricate the contacting parts between the yoke and the eccentric.

The sleeve 34 is scoured to the shaft 11 by means of a set screw 41. Itwill readily be seen that by loosening this screw 4-1 the sleeve may beturned on the shaft 11 and thus the ecentric shifted about the axis ofthe shaft.

The arm 21 bent upwardly at 42 and thence inwardly at 43 and the upperarm 14- carrying the thread guide 13 is located between the main portionof the arm 21. and this inwardly bent portion a IGSlllt the inwardlybent portion 4-3 as well as the arm 21 engages the looper thread, asclearly shown in Fig. 2.

The oscillations of the arm 21 are so timed that when the looper movesforward, said arm will move toward the thread guides and will give upthread to the looper.

This with the pulling off action of the looper from the supply, insuresthat the looper shall have plenty of slack thread as it moves forwardand also provides a suiticient amount of the slack for feeding whichoccurs as the looper reaches the forward end of its stroke. this slackbeing utilized for the succeeding stitch.

it will be noted that the link (3 and the lever 8 move toward alinementas the looper moves toward the forward end of its stroke and those partsare so positioned as to move into alinemcnt and thus give a dwell to thelooper at the forward end of its stroke while. the feed is taking place.The thread arm 21' moves from a position slightly to the left of thethread guides 13 and 15, see Fig. 7, to a position at a considerabledistance to' the right thereof, as shown in Fig. 2. The thread arm is inthe position shown in Fig. 7 when the looper is at the forward end ofits stroke and is out of engagement with the looper thread. hen thelooper moves backward, the thread arm will move. into engagement withthe looper thread and will take up the slack created by the backwardmovement of the looper.

' The amount of thread taken up by the movable thread arm depends, ofcourse, upon the position of the thread rides 13 and 15 and as these areadjustable in a direction parallel with the plane of oscillation of thearm, the amount of thread taken up may be varied. The thread arm may beadjusted in its supporting sleeve in a direction radially of theoperating shaft and this enables the arm to be properly set to cooperatewith the thread guides in its various adjusted positions. The eccentricwhich oscillates the thread arm can be adjusted and when said eccentricis shifted it will, of course, vary the time when the thread arm reachesits maximum throw in engagement with the thread relative to the positionof the looper.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction may bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth inthe appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is

l. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an arm oscillatingbetween said guides, means for oscillating said arm whereby the looperthread is taken up on the backward movement of the looper and is givenup on the forward movement of the looper, said oscillating meansincluding an eccentric, and means whereby the same may be shifted tovary the time of movement of the thread arm relative to the movements ofthe looper.

2. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an arm oscillatingbetween said guides, a pivoted yoke supporting said arm, a rotatingeccentric cooperating with said yoke for oscillating said arm, and meansfor adjusting said thread guides whereby the amount of thread taken upmay be varied.

3. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an

arm oscillating between said guides, a pivoted yoke, a bracketsupporting said yoke, a rotating shaft, an eccentric on said rotatingshaft for oscillating said yoke, a plate for closing the open end of theyoke, and a lubrieating pad carried by said plate and engaging saideccentric.

4:. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an arm oscillatingbetween said guides, a pivoted yoke, a bracket supporting said pivotedyoke, a rotating shaft, an eccentric on said rotating shaft foroscillating said yoke, means for adjusting said thread guides forvarying the amount of thread taken up, and means for adjusting the saideccentric for varying the time of oscillation of the arm relative to themovements of the looper.

5. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an arm oscillatingbetween said guides, an oscillating yoke having a sleeve in which saidarm is mounted, said arm being capable of adjustment endwise in thesleeve, means whereby said thread guides may beadjusted for varying theamount of thread taken up, and means for oscillating said yoke.

6. The combination with a thread carrying looper, means for supportingsaid thread carrying looper whereby the same oscillates in a singlehorizontal plane, of a thread controlling mechanism including spacedguides through which the looper thread passes, an arm oscillatingbetween said guides, an oscillating yoke having a sleeve in which saidarm is mounted, said arm being capable of adjustment endwise in thesleeve, means whereby said thread guides may be adjusted for varying theamount of thread taken up, a rotating shaft, an eccentric on said shaftfor oscillating said yoke, and means for ad justing the eccentric aboutthe shaft.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

LANSING ONDERDONK.

